It’s been about one month since Bar Leather Apron and BirdyGo! temporarily closed in Topa Financial Center, due to a water leak in the building. The building closed on July 23, according to Tom Park.
“There was a water leak that caused an electrical fire, which caused a bunch of smoke,” explains Park, co-owner of Bar Leather Apron. “The smoke made the fire sprinklers go off and basically flooded the basement of the building.”
The building had to pump out the water before the damages could be assessed. The building reopening date has been delayed, according to Park.
“Every day, we get updates from (building) management,” he says. “They powered up one of the towers, but it’s not like full power; there’s no AC. They still have to go through each floor and each unit to make sure there’s no leaks, damages and mold; they have to check air quality.
“If I have to guess, we’re still a while away from re-opening (in there),” he adds.
Park — who is also a business partner, together with Justin Park and Ki Chung, of fried chicken spot BirdyGo! — says they transported all of the ingredients to MĀZE following the temporary closure of Topa Financial Center.
“We had to take all the chicken that we had frozen and prepped; we had to do something with it before it went bad,” he says. “We did one day where we just made sandwiches there (at MĀZE). It was really tough because you’re going from a huge kitchen with three big fryers to basically two tabletop fryers that we had at MĀZE.”
Park says the team made about 150 fried chicken sandwiches that day.
“Everybody was patient; it took a little longer to get things made,” he says.
BirdyGo!, which just opened in June, had quickly become popular lunch destination for the Downtown Honolulu crowd. The biz is known for its fried chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders and crinkle-cut fries.
“It was so hard (to close),” Park says. “We opened BirdyGo! and we had some really good momentum, and things were rolling. It was hard to lose that momentum. We don’t want people to forget about us.”
Despite the building situation, Park also says that their landlord, Avalon Group, has been “really supportive.”
“They gave us a space in their other building, so we can prep and make ice,” he says. “Avalon also owns Davies Pacific (Center), which is 841 Bishop Street. They were very generous to give us a space to use for free that we could use for our prep work, and our refrigeration and ice making. We make all of our own ice (for Bar Leather Apron’s cocktails).”
Since they can’t fry chicken — which BirdyGo! is known for — in the same capacity, Park says the biz is currently offering grilled chicken bentos for $20 each. They’ve been selling the bentos at MĀZE on Tuesdays, but will now expand the bento offering throughout the week.
“We’ve been doing yakitori-style chicken bentos,” he says. “We’ve had a lot of support from friends and companies. We’ve been doing that just to make some cash flow. Going forward, chef Ki (Chung) has decided we’re going to do bentos any day of the week, as long as we have some notice. Instead of doing 200 bentos on Tuesdays, we’ll do up to 60 bentos a day, as long as we have notice.”
Customers who want to order bentos need to email BirdyGo! (birdy@birdygohnl.com), and the team will work with each individual on their requests. Single bentos will not be for sale, according to Park, who says that the business has only been accepting cash or checks, since its credit card machine is down.
“We’re trying to do at least 20 bentos per order,” he says.
The bentos include yakitori chicken, rice, coleslaw and mac salad. Bentos can be picked up at MĀZE anytime between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., according to Park, who says many customers often come around 11 or 11: 30 a.m.
Bento delivery will also be possible for larger orders of 40 or more.
“We’re trying to give good quality and good taste,” Park says. “It’s a very comforting meal, for a local person, to have grilled teriyaki chicken with mac salad and cabbage.”
Bar Leather Apron is also popping up in MĀZE’s space on Mondays and Tuesdays. The biz is offering a more casual cocktail experience, featuring a standing bar, according to Park. No reservations are accepted for the BLA pop-ups; walk-ins start from 5 p.m. and go until 10 p.m. The space can currently fit about 30 customers, according to Park.
“It’s kind of a hybrid experience — no reservations, more casual,” he says. “We’re doing some of the BLA classic cocktails and chef Ki has put together a menu of small bites inspired by MĀZE and BLA.
“It’s intended to be casual and fun, not like Bar Leather Apron where it’s very structured,” he adds.
Ironically, a standing bar — similar to the ones in Japan — was the original concept for MĀZE, Park explains.
“We wanted to create a fun, lively standing bar, where everyone was standing around, eating pūpū and drinking cocktails,” he says. “We never wanted it to be like another Bar Leather Apron. Justin and I wanted a place for our friends to come and drink. But then the Covid-19 pandemic happened, and with all the social distancing, we couldn’t have that (full) capacity in there. We thought we could fit 40 people; now, we could only fit 20 people (with social distancing), so we turned it into a more fixed tasting menu with cocktail pairings. That’s when we met chef Ki and the rest is history.”
Previous dishes at Bar Leather Apron’s MĀZE pop-up included oysters, filet-o-fish sticks (served on a popsicle stick) with the option to add Imperial Kaluga caviar, Miyazaki wagyu dumplings, and the “Irish spice bag” with popcorn chicken, fries, peppers, onions, five-spice and curry sauce.
“They’re doing fun snacks that chef Ki can be more creative and casual with,” says Park, who confirms that the BLA pop-ups will continue on Mondays and Tuesdays. He says that since Bar Leather Apron is usually booked two months in advance, the cocktail bar had to cancel its August reservations.
“We don’t know when we’re going to reopen,” he says. “We booked some people in October; hopefully, we’ll be open by then.”
Park acknowledges that Monday and Tuesdays nights are generally “not a night that normally people go out drinking,” but hopes the community will support Bar Leather Apron and BirdyGo!.
“Bar Leather Apron has been through so many ups and downs,” he says. “We went from the highest of highs — winning the James Beard Award — to going through Covid-19 and all the scrutiny that bars were under. Just when you think things are OK, this kind of thing happens.”
The temporary closure of the downtown Honolulu building has been especially difficult on the business’s staff.
“We’re a very small team, and everybody’s so talented and passionate about Bar Leather Apron,” Park says. “As much as they (our staff) want to work with us, they need to survive, too. Without our team, we’re nothing. We’re not doing this to make money or pay rent; we’re doing this (these pop-ups) to keep our team intact.”
Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can be reached at kelli@alohastatedaily.com.
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